Of COURSE, they had a good time. How could they not? I'm looking forward to seeing pictures tomorrow!

Remind me to bring a "burger net" when we do your birthday barbeque! Too funny!!!!

Pictures! Want pictures!

My Mom advocated for eating things off the ground. It challenges your immune system. Also, even Julia Child once dropped a chicken in the kitchen on her show. I bet she didn't wash it off afterwards, either.

I would have done the same thing with the dropped burgers b/c 1) Anything that might have gotten on them got killed and cooked off and 2) Anything that survived would simply provide more antibodies. Ash on hot dogs means more fiber. Sweet Tea beats soda any day.

Sounds like you had a lovely party.

My mom (a real Southern Lady, from a long line of Southern Ladies) says that a little dirt don't hurt, child's gotta eat a peck a dirt or he won't be regular.....

Hey......I told you...Southern.
Worse yet.........lol

We're Texans too...........

I'm sure everyone had a great time at your party. Nearly three months after moving in we finally had everyone over for a housewarming party on Sunday. I baked brownies and we bought beer and ordered Thai food. And the place could have been a little cleaner than it was, but oh well. Fancy shmancy! None the less, everyone seemed to have a good time. I believe that party is all about the people, and with you as the host and fabulous guests how could anyone not have fun?

I can totally relate to your Monday morning head hurting. Stupid Monday. :(

I am laughing my arse off right now. I'm picturing all of you going ga ga over Minou and I'm guessing that Angela just sat back, giggled and enjoyed it all. I'm so excited that you were able to meet up!!! I can't wait to see the photos. Isn't Angie great? And Minou - isn't she funny???? She's such a social creature!

Ok, I'm actually quite jealous. Gah. Drat this cold East Coast. You said it was warm there? Darn it. We froze our arses off this weekend. 'scuze me while I go put some more wood on the fire.

Sounds like everyone had a blast, Laurie! And sweet tea beats soda any day! Yay! I can't wait to see the pictures tomorrow!

Well, if I were there, I'd take you up on your offer of leftovers. I happen to like charcoal-y meat.

I would have done exactly the same thing with the hamburgers and not apologized. Nor for the hot dogs. As my grandmother used to say, "Every man has to eat his peck of dirt before he dies."

That's what makes a party interesting, anyway. If everything's perfect, what does anyone have to remember? "Oh, yeah. It was nice..." Mishaps ALWAYS add to parties and vacations, even though it doesn't seem like it at the time.

As for hostessing/non-hostessing, they're all able-bodied adults and can get their own stuff if they want it. Wouldn't have stopped me.

Sounds like everyone had a wonderful time, and are now sunburnt and hungover. Perfect.

I AM SO JEALOUS!!!

You met Minou and Angela.

Angela and Minou met you.

I wish I had enough frequent flyer miles to bring you all here, or myself there or someplace where we could all meet in between. Sigh, I'll get over it, someday. Maybe.

It sounds like a great party too...who hasn't dropped food. Just put on your best Julia Child imitation and eat hearty.

The story is great...can't wait to see the pictures!

As my mother always said..."God made dirt & dirt can't hurt. Now eat it!"

A party isn't a party without something to remember. I'm sure everyone had a GREAT time.

Hope you're feeling better by now.

i seriously thought i was the only person in the world with hostess anxiety. as a result, i generally don't throw parties. i threw myself a rockin' 25th birthday party and had to assign someone else to be responsible during it so that i could have a good time. as it stands, i think that was just about the hottest day of the year that summer, too. right, like i wasn't sweating enough.

Yep, you gotta eat a peck o' dirt in your life, builds up your immune system. Plus anything bad ought to be cooked off by the grill anyway, so it's all good.

Laurie! You just crack me up! I think you've turned a normal Encino summer barbecue into a sitcom! Great characters...Minou, Angela, Jennifer, YOU; great visuals...we don't even need the photos to picture raw burgers sliding off the que table. I'm surprised Minou didn't get some of that action. It doesn't matter how bad you think your bbq was, everyone just came over to watch you talk, smile and sweat. You're the real show, Girlfriend! And the show is great!

You have me grinning at my desk, Laurie. That was the best BBQ I've been to in a very long time. And rest assured, a good time was had by all.

I can't wait to see the pictures tomorrow!

Hey, you've done better than my dad! He used to drop the bangers (sausages) in the grass or in the embers, coat them really well with grass, dirt and flakey bits of carbon, and then burn them black and expect us to eat them. They were totally feral.
At least one person had a good time at your BBQ!

Okay, first of all, why the frig doesn't your comments remember me?

Sorry, didn't mean to get snarky.

Okay, peck of dirt? Yes, we adhere to that, too, in the hill-by-god-billie holler in which my extended family inbreeds - er, resides. Except we actually have it as part of the recipe... "Uncle Gay's famous catsup? Boil 2 bushels of tomatos and add a peck of dirt until your conscious tells you to stop!" did I ever mention that my mother believed in the conscious school of cooking whereby a bad, or evil, conscious would lead to a badly cooked meal?

Not really. Oy, I can feel the breeze from my mother spinning all the way from West Virginia to Jersey.

Bad hostessing: NOT! The rule is this: you invite people, give them food and drink. It's THEIR responsibility to have fun and make it a party. Well done.

Raw meat on the ground? Yankee version: a little dirt never hurt anybody. It'll cook off anyway. Non-cookable items such as gum balls, scoops of ice cream, pills? -- three second (4 minute . . . you name it) law. Pick it up, "wipe it off and eat it", a little dirt never hurt anybody. Amen.

I'm looking forward to hot summer weather here in rainy but beautiful northern Ohio. Cheers!

p.s. put me on your invitation list. i'm sooooo there.

Ummm, I guess someone forgot to tell you. Getting crocked at your own party is perfectly OK, since obviously you are NOT going to 'drink and drive!' I'm always so nervous that I just about CAN'T get drunk, no matter how much I drink; people have asked me where I find the caffeine that so closely resembles white wine!!

Sorry about the head; it's so unfair when even your hair hurts. My favorite morning-after is a good stiff, spicy Bloody Mary!

Sweetie you seem to have had a good New brunswick party with out the New Brunswickers. My dad burned the s**t out of everything on the barby growing up. There were 5 of us and I can remember wiping off food and scarfing it down, don't think that I ever actually rinsed anything. Besides, it sounds like there was alcohol involved, isn't that a disinfectant?????
i can totally relate to the hostess anxiety though. I had a party for my daughter when she turned one. Now in my family that means you buy some party hats, bake a completely stupid cake, let the kid at the cake, take pictures, then serve it to the guests, most of whom are happy that you have a cold schooner to chase it with. NOT so much with the x family in law. THIER version of a child's party involves invites to the entire family back to second cousins twice removed including someone who may or may not have shared a walk on the deck of the f****ing ark with a distant relation who married in seventeen generations back. We wouldn't want to make them feel unwanted dear now, would we? I am sure there is room for one more, hmmmm? Then, everyone wears their sunday best and expects you--the mother of a one year old (who is now 9 and still hasn't slept through the night)and a21/2 year old, who never sat still til he was 7. to wait on the whole shootin match of them serving tea in matching cups, make pleasant chit chat and be pleased as punch when they tell you how you are doing EVERYTHING wrong. "Breastfeeding? honey that just seems soo unnatural, maybe you should put her on some good old fashioned formula."
I digress. there was no booze, there is now no husband or inlaws. Birthday parties here consist of bbq hotdogs, a case of schooner, a jug of coolaid and a superstore cake. We have a ball.

Lizzie, those ex-in-laws sound like my in-laws. Sheesh! Why can't people just sit, eat, be nice, and have fun? I like the sound of your parties--they're more what I grew up with, too.

Laurie, that party sounds wonderful! *sigh* Maybe I could have you do our housewarming party if we ever finally move into the new house. You'd make it fun!

So this doesn't relate to this latest entry, but screw blog ettiquet, (and spelling), because I am making my debut from lurker anonymity. I was just looking through your travel site and I think the XXXXXX is not near the handsome, sarcasticly-flirty, whirlwind of a man that you deserve. My straight-girl-crush wants to ban the bad things/thoughts that he brings to your world. If I was anywhere near as adept in knitting as I fancy myself in painting, I would make you the most beautiful and powerful X tapestry ever seen. As it stands, my (only slightly) drunk ass will admire you and send you good vibes from afar.

why oh why did my comment come up with the name 'Bina' for me??????

hee hee hee -- I found your blog today and spent many procrastination hours reading the *entire* thing. still laughing!

I figure that if I serve enough booze at my parties, my guests will either forget they need dessert and condiments or become forward enough to drunkenly demand a slice of tomato!

Also, posting a list of stuff on your fridge works too. Just put:
Inside here:
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Ice Cream

Open door and root for these things, should the desire strike you.

I wish I could have been there to throw a few back, and mess up my knitting with you all it sounds like it was a blast... seriously, knitting and alcohol do not mix....don't ask me how I know this...

LUCKY....Am I the only one that didn't have a hangover this fine Monday morning...

Just wanted to say that when I worked in an upscale restaurant in Chicago the summer before college, I dropped meat on the floor all the time..granted, it wasn't oustide, on concrete, but Chef would scream out "RINSE IT OFF, RINSE IT OFF, I'M READY TO COOK IT!!!"

And that's why I don't cook...but aftre re-reading what I typed, I guess i should....

Don't forget about the pictures!!!

You are very, very funny. You are also never, ever invited to my house 'cause I don't want to have to smack you right upside the head.

Dude, I got social anxiety about your party just reading that post and I had a great time at it and I WASN'T EVEN THERE. Man.

Sounds like fun!
I would have forgotten to put stuff out as well.
I am a bad hostess - I also forget to introduce people ALL the time.
SWEET TEA?? Wonderful!!
This may sound bizarre, but would you mind sharing your sweet tea recipe? My great grandmother used to make sweet tea all the time & I miss it so much! I was a teenager when she passed and never thought to ask her how to make it and my mom never learned from her either since she & my sister are diabetic,

I would like the sweet tea recipe as well. My stepmom is from all over the South, (um Baptist minister dad much?), and hers is the simple and effective Lipton teabags brewed with sugar. Also to all the (somehow and in someway influenced) Southern Ladies out there, does anyone know about Frito Pie????

#1. Stupid effing car of mine! Sounds like a missed an awesome shindig. Fuck! I can say "fuck" here, right?

#2. Laurie, you SO need to go here: http://kittenavecwhip.blogspot.com/

Next party, no foods that require fancy additions. That's my rule. I never remember tomatoes or lettuce. Sometimes I'll put out mayo and ketchup.

Sounds like a great party all around.

Is it odd that my mouth waters at the thought of hotdogs covered in charcoal dust?

Lizzie, I didn't know Schooner still existed. Do those west coast folks know that is beer? But then I haven't lived in the maritimes for a long time. Sounds like a great party plan (and getting rid of the husband and his clan seems to have worked out well, too).

Laurie, I had a FABULOUS time at your bbq, and I only attended it vicariously through blogstalking! Hmm . . . it must be the bit of patio in the meat that explains what feels like a chipped tooth . . . And with all the libations, the lumpy scarf is full of holes and I'll have to rip back 12 rows. But it was sooo worth it! (And ice cream is highly overrated anyway.)

MIGODDDD! You get like 40 comments per post??? Wooooooh someone's little Miss Popular? LOL I LOVE your blog though, so I'm not exactly surprised! =)
However - I read in one of your early posts how you enjoyed catching glimpses of other (strange) peoples (weird) lives and reading about what they do and see pictures of the back of their sofas and stuff? Well....you've found the right blog - MINE! LOL Yup, on the other side of the world, in tiny, cold Norway - but lucky for you I blog in English... so if you have the time, you know where to find me! =)

"Mmmm...tasty burgers, Aunt Purl. Why are they crunchy?"

Petfinder.com. Look at al the cute dog picturs & let the cats pick out one. A cat is never so happy as when he or she has a dog to boss around.

Kathy in Mpls

Now in my revenge for all the people who e-mail me & tell me it is 70 degrees in where-ever in January & it is 25 below here...It was 71 on Saturday!

Please, Auntie Purl! Don't keep us in suspense! The "refresh" button on my browser is gonna break.

i applaud your cocktail-watching-as-hostess. becuase if the hostess is having a good time, then guests feel relaxed, which means that they can enjoy themselves more.

really, your drinking is for your guests' benefit.

and i'd love an excuse for a roadtrip. (like a bbq. for example. just sayin'.)

Frito Pie?

two versions: Ballpark version (easiest)
1 individual bag of Fritos
1 ladle or scoop or plop of chili...(without beans!!)
1 handful of grated cheese (okay the ball park puts on that nasty fake yellow stuff.. but don't do that to your stomache)

Open the bag of Fritos down the side. Hold bag sideways (like a taco) and ladle,scoop or plop your chili in (hey open a can if you have to). Sprinkle or stuff in as much cheese as the bag can hold.

Okay..you CAN put all this in a bowl if you're a wimp...

Fancy way: Fix a nice pot of chili... Eat it for dinner one night and use left overs for Frito pie.

Layer Fritos and Chili and cheese in a cassarole dish. Heat till the cheese melts.

Come to think of it......there ain't no HARD way to make Frito pie....unless you plan on making the chili first.....

Nancy

http://nancysgardenspot.blogspot.com/

OMG. I just found your blog and I. Love. It. You are one very funny, witty lady. Congrats on the successful party!

So, Laurie, Angela keeps telling me to read you, I see why now. Having known her since high school I find it very funny to read that she radiates calm, but I totally agree with everything else you said about her, is she not a doll? Also, you are far too critical of those photos of yourself, you look totally gorgeous. Enviable. (Now I know why you and A like each other, you are both ridiculously critical of your own beauty...) Anyways, sorry for blathering, I just wanted to say hi and I'm glad you met my friend! :)